In an acknowledgement that different degrees of involvement with militancy merit different punishments, the Government named 12 Singaporeans with terrorist links yesterday but went on to give them a relatively light rap on the knuckles. Instead of detaining them under the Internal Security Act â a fate suffered by 37 suspected terrorists over the past two years â the authorities decided to merely place them under Restriction Orders (ROs). They will be free to go about their daily lives and hold a job.
| As long as it's not a job as a prayer leader, or teaching at your friendly neighborhood madrassah... |
Even their employers have not been alerted to their identities, since these men were only on the periphery of the plots or had dropped out of the outfits altogether. However, these men will not be able to change jobs or addresses without informing the authorities and cannot leave the country without permission. A new condition has also been added to their ROs â religious counselling â that reflects Singaporeâs intent to reform the people who once went astray, instead of uniformly detaining everyone who was part of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) or its associate, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf).
| Starting to look at MILF a little more clearly, are we? At least in Singapore... |
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng described this as âa calibrated and graduated approachâ.
| "It's an alternative to being severely beaten with a stick and then cleaning toilets in jug for 20 years. Most people seem to find it the more pleasant alternative..." |
âWe will not hesitate to use the ISA to defend and protect the security of Singapore and Singaporeans. But we do not invoke such powers lightly. In other words, the Government does not use the ISA to simply detain people unnecessarily,â he told reporters yesterday. âWith religious counselling, we hope that they will understand the kind of teaching they had received in the past was the wrong one and the counsellors, comprising the religious teachers, will be able to put them right.â
| I think any religious counseling should lead them directly to a path of agnosticism, myself, but I may be prejudiced in the matter. Or they could be converted to 7th Day Unitarianism, and sent out knocking on doors for no particular reason... |
The lighter riposte to the latest group also underscores how the counter-terror measures have proceeded along different phases. The first batch of detainees consisted of ring-leaders. The next batch were the foot soldiers. As the operation reaches the mopping up stage, the men now facing scrutiny were largely on the fringes of the plot. The background, education level and the types of jobs they held were ânot much differentâ from those of the earlier detainees, said Mr Wong.
| "Petty thieves, pimps, shakedown artists, the usual..." |
The only difference lay in the degree of involvement. For example, the 10 JI members now facing ROs had attended physical training exercises in Malaysia and even learnt to make fire-bombs. Three of them â Mohd Ashikin Mohd Yusof, Abu Bakar Sedek Hashim and Mohammed Hashim â were also tasked with looking for a warehouse where lorries could be parked, rigged into a truck bomb and then aimed at targets in Singapore. They made little headway and it is understood that they did not even know why they were being asked to look for a warehouse.
"Duh... Why we lookin' for a warehouse, Mohd?"
"Duh... I dunno, Abu." |
Some of the others had helped conduct JI camps for children, perhaps without realising that future JI operatives were being talent-spotted there.
"Mohammed! That little brat with the orange turban just beat up all the other kids in his cabin!"
"Sign him up, Mohd!" |
As if to illustrate how these pawns could unwittingly be used in plots more chilling than they imagined, JI trainer Arifin Ali â now under ISA detention â used a bus ride to one such camp to take video footage of the area where American military personnel lived. This was later incorporated as part of the video targeting the Yishun MRT shuttle bus service and passed on to an Al Qaeda military commander.
Meanwhile, the two Milf members now facing ROs â Abdul Ghani Omar and Mohd Abdul Rahman â harboured ideas of performing jihad (holy war) in Mindanao.
| "Yup. Yup. We're goin' to Mindanao, yup! Yup! An' we're gonna kill infidels, yup! Yup! An' we're gonna get kilt, yup! Yup! An' we're gonna have senny-two virgins, yup! Yup!" |
But that is in the past.
"[Sigh.] Mohd, I miss the good old days!"
"Oh, shuddup. You wanna be beat with a stick again?" |
More pertinently, the investigators have managed to get their men without causing undue public alarm or affecting communal relations. âTherefore, this investigation has been done discreetly over the last one-and-a-half years,â said Mr Wong. But Singapore is far from relenting in its tough fight against terrorism. For one, the Orders of Detention against the 13 JI members who were arrested in December 2001 were extended recently for another two years, after a review by the ISA advisory board. Explaining the extension, Mr Wong said: âThey continue to pose a threat to us and therefore they have to be detained.â
"We intend to keep them in the calaboose until they're no longer a danger to society."
"When's that gonna be?"
"Either when they reach 400 pounds or they're 88 years old." |
Nor is the battle over. âThat is because there are extremist religious groups in the region that continue to train people for such activities and they also send them for training in training camps. So, weâre not out of the woods and weâll not be out of the woods for a long time,â said Mr Wong.
Twelve persons issued with Restriction Orders:Jemaah Islamiyah members:
1. Abu Bakar Sedek Hashim, 53
2. Mohammad Hashim, 42
3. Mohd Ashikin Mohd Yusof, 33
4. Jasmani Bakran, 42
5. Zainodin Ismail, 42
6. Hamim Jaafar, 37
7. Omar Abdul Karim, 40
8. Yusri Mohd Yusof, 40
9. Mohd Yusuf Mohd Noor, 52
10. Mohd Shafiee Osman, 41
Moro Islamic Liberation Front members:
1. Abdul Ghani Omar, 28
2. Mohd Abdul Rahman Baharom, 45 |